Why Not Sew?

Monday, February 15, 2016

Crossroads Quilt Along ~ House Blocks

Crossroads Quilt Along House Blocks

Welcome to the Crossroads Quilt Along benefiting March of Dimes with Fat Quarter Shop and Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts! If you haven't heard about the Crossroads Quilt Along, let Kimberly and Joanna tell you more about it in their new video here.

Today the first block for the quilt along is being introduced. The block is the house block. The Crossroads quilt blocks are FREE to download on the 15th of every month starting in February 2016. They only ask a suggested donation of $5 to their March of Dimes campaign for each time you download our patterns.

love this selvage on Strawberry Fields Revisited

Love these blocks. The are simple and sew up quickly.I am using the quilt kit made for the quilt along. Although you don't have too. The fabric requirements are HERE.

I spent the weekend cutting and organizing. Honestly, it's not how I usually work when I make a quilt. But I really should! It's so efficient. I organized mine into ziploc bags and then put those into a small plastic storage container.

fun and organized weekend sewing

This is a shot I shared on Instagram. See how organized I am?! :) What a great way to work. One of my goals is to work more efficiently.

Joanna of Fig Tree Quilts (@figtreequilts)

Pat Sloan (@quilterpatsloan)

April of Prairie Grass Patterns (@amrosenthal)

Tina of Emily Ann's Kloset (@emilyannskloset)

Melissa of Oh How Sweet (@ohhowsweet)

Angie of Gnome Angel (@gnomeangel)

Vanessa of Lella Boutique (@lellaboutique)

Melissa of Happy Quilting (@happyquiltingmc)

Erin of Why Not Sew (@whynotsewquilts)

Greg of Grey Dogwood Studio (@greydogwoodstudio)

Sondra of Out of the Blue Quilts (@sondradavison)

Sedef of Down Grapevine Lane (@downgrapevinelane)
Taunja of Carried Away Quilting (@taunjalynn)

Check out the other house blocks being made by these lovely bloggers and also share your progress and creations on the Crossroads Facebook group. Post your blocks using #crossroadsquiltalong on Insatgram, Facebook and Twitter.

Happy Sewing!
xo Erin

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Aurifil Thread Challenge Review

****This post is from 2011 and was originally part of Fat Quarterly's Auriful Thread Challenge. I'm posting it here because it appears to no longer be on the Fat Quarterly website. I think it's a fun review and reference to some of the Aurifil threads and what I did with them. Enjoy!****

I was thrilled to be chosen to participate in Fat Quarterly's Aurifil Thread Challenge. When I received my package of the threads I went straight to my sewing room to get started. We were allowed to use one, some or all of the thread. For me I knew I had to use them all. That was what the challenge meant for me.

I decided on a Modern Crazy Quilt design. I've always loved all of the different stitches that traditional crazy quilts have and thought it was a perfect design to showcase all of these fabulous threads.

The two threads that instantly caught my eye were the thicker 12 weight threads. In my pack I had a green colored 12wt. thread and a white wool 12 wt. thread. I really wanted to showcase these.

I used the green for the feather stitch on the quilt blocks

and also for the machine stitched binding.

I used the wool thread to raw edge applique each block to the linen background fabric using a blanket stitch. The wool was incredible. I loved everything about it. It was thick, showed up well and sewed like a dream.

With the bit of wool thread that i had left I hand quilted some big stitches between the blocks. The thread was great for hand quilting too! All of the threads were excellent to work with.

I used the 28wt. variegated thread for the herring bone stitch. It showed up well and sewed wonderfully. I used the 40 wt. thread for the honeycomb or smocking stitch. It was a lighter weight but it showed up really well. I also used this weight for some of the piecing to see what that would be like. No problems at all. It's definitely a good thread for piecing. Lastly I used the 50 wt. thread for a decorative swirl stitch. It showed up well and has a nice delicate look. I also used this weight thread for some of the piecing and it was great. I could see this thread also being of good use for subtle quilting stitches.

All of the Aurifil threads that I used had different characteristics making them extremely versatile. I am so happy that I had the chance to work with them. Thanks Aurifil, Fat Quarterly and Lynn for organizing this exciting challenge.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Farmer's Wife 1930's Sew-Along Block No. 28 ~ Dolly

This week we're sewing the Dolly block for the Farmer's Wife Sew-Along with Gnome Angel, Fat Quarter Shop and Marti Michell.
Dolly can be a bit challenging because she has many small pieces. 57 pieces! I was originally going to epp (English Paper Piece) this block. I prepped all my pieces and began sewing them together. Well, I was a bit liberal with my glue while basting and it made for a hard, stiff fabric that was not very fun to sew through. Not to mention I had to take a deeper stitch than I typically would for epp. My stitches were showing on the front of the block so I decided to hand piece the block. If you have read my blog for a while you know I love hand piecing. I have tutorials for 12, 6 in. blocks under my header, click on the hand piecing / hand quilting tab!

First I printed the paper piecing templates for the block from the cd onto freezer paper. Then I colored the pieces according to the fabric I was going to use for each piece. Color in the small quilt block on the page as your placement guide.

I then cut out all the paper pieces with no seam allowance. I ironed the pieces onto the wrong side of the fabric I was using.

I trimmed the pieces using my ruler and leaving 1/4 in. Around all sides.

It takes some time to prep all of the pieces. I used the freezer paper instead of tracing each template onto the fabric to save a little time. Please trace the template on the fabric if you feel more comfortable doing that.

After all of my pieces were prepped I sat down for a nice evening of hand stitching. I sewed the center top square together first and then added the side squares. Then I pieced the mid section squares and put them together. I like to put the rows together as I go especially with so many pieces like this. I feel like it breaks up the piecing monotony and keeps the pieces organized for me. Finger press as you go. Press the seams of each row in opposite directions so they nest together.

Here is the last row needing attached and this is how I did it.

Pin the rows together at the center seams. They should be finger pressed in opposite directions as mentioned above so they nest together.

Thread a needle. I like straw needles and using hand quilting thread. Knot the end of your thread and start sewing at one end of your row with a running stitch. Keep your needle in in line with the edge of the template.

Back Stitch at the center seams. Since this block has quite a few seams you can certainly back stitch quite often as I did here. As you can see paper pieces can fall off. Just keep needle in line with the edge of the squares as they are least likely to come off. You'll be fine.

Now that all the rows are sewn together you can press with a hot iron. And your done! I hope you give hand piecing a try. It's a nice way to handle these small pieces and blocks.

The Farmer’s Wife 1930s Sampler Quilt: Inspiring Letters from Farm Women of the Great Depression and 99 Quilt Blocks That Honor Them by Laurie Aaron Hird for Fons & Porter/F+W; RRP $28.99 – Click here to purchase.

Have a great day!

Happy Sewing!
xo Erin

Friday, January 8, 2016

Fat Quarter Shop's Top 10 Videos of 2015 :: Delectable Mountains

Good morning! Fat Quarter Shop is celebrating their top 10 videos of 2015. The 5th quilt on the Top 10 is Delectable Mountains. This is a really fun traditional block from their classic & vintage series.

I used 16 blocks for my layout. I really like this size quilt for one of the quilt racks in my living room. I like that I am getting quite a few wall quilts this size that I can change them out more often.

I used the ever so pretty Paperie line by the sweetest Amy Sinibaldi for Art Gallery Fabrics. It's gorgeous fabric to work with. I added a few solids and some cotton and steel basics and a Lotta Jansdotter print to play along in this quilt. The feel is so soft. I wish I had the time to make a bed sized quilt right now. I think it would be the perfect summer quilt.

For the quilting I sewed 1/4" away from both sides of the horizontal and vertical seams.Then I hand quilted the diagonal seams on the background fabric side using 2 strands of DMC floss.
I used another Art Gallery Fabric for the binding. It's from the Wanderlust line. It's a really nice charcoal grey with some x's on it that I thought would compliment the Paperie fabric really well.

I love this quilt so much!
Fat Quarter Shop has the free PDF for the block pattern HERE
the quilt pattern in HERE
the video tutorial is HERE

I encourage you to check out their videos on you tube if you haven't already. I really enjoy them.

Be sure to heck out the lovely talented bloggers who also made Delectable Mountains today!